This newsletter update includes the Twitter feeds for the lead developers along with a video announced as part of development Stage 3.

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Crusaders!

As you know, our development team is working hard on creating Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade. As you may also have noticed, we want to make the community part of the creation process as much as possible. As such, we wish to take the time to introduce to you the key players who are living and dreaming of Warhammer 40,000 to create the best game possible!

Our brothers are working hard to produce your game but we asked them to stop for an afternoon to speak to all our loyal fans. Their messages are featured in our Phase 3 “Meet the team!” video.

Pay attention! You may be able to find hints of the upcoming game on the staff’s screens…

Glory to the emperor!

As per our Chapter Motto “There will be no Firewall Between the Dev-Marine and the Imperium of fans” Here are our Brothers` Twitter accounts. Ask them what you want but remember that as per the emperor`s will their primary duty is to fight the game-making battle.

This offer is for PC only. Register, download the client, patch it, and play it.

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DEFIANCE PC TRIAL IS LIVE!

Explorer the terraformed Bay area within Defiance by checking out our FREE PC Trial. Starting today, you can access our Defiance PC Trial by logging in to your Trion Account or by creating a new account.

Soldier Front 2, a new free to play 3D MMOFPS with a large amount of team combat modes, including a unique MOBA-style scenario.

How to get and use your Key:

1. Log in to your MMOBomb account to get your key. If you don’t have one, register for free HERE.
2. Copy and paste your key to a safe place as you may not be able to retrieve it once closing your browser.
3. Download Soldier Front 2 HERE.
4. Login to Soldier Front 2 and create a character
5. Go HERE and enter your Gift Code in the box
6. Go to the Armory in game and check the gift tab for your items!
7. Make sure you never miss a giveaway, follow our updates via Facebook and Twitter!
8. Have Fun!

It’s great to see the conclusion of the first “Most Wanted” winner being announced. Unfortunately, it’s marred by many allegations of hacking/exploits. It seems highly unusual that the winner pulled in 273% more ark salvage per hour than anyone else in the entire game. Feels exploity to me.

Also, I hope the “likeness” they put into the show is really worth all the effort the community put into that contest. From early announcements, the Defiance group made it seem like winners of contests would win cameo appearances on the TV show, not just have a wanted poster with their character’s name on it appear for a second.

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Just over a month ago we kicked off the first ever in-game crossover competition to get your likeness within Defiance. Fans of the show and community members from the game set out to take on the challenge and today we would like to announce the winner.

Congratulations to winner Zachary P. for raking in an incredible 173,383 ark salvage/hr – that’s 109,969/hr over the average Ark Hunter haul! You’ll be seeing Zachary’s likeness in an upcoming episode of Defiance so keep your eyes peeled.

Please go to the official page and recruit your friends from there. This is just a friendly post notifying you of the brand new recruitment rewards opportunity. (I’m having bad flashbacks to an earlier giveaway.)

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RECRUIT-A-FRIEND

Invite your friends via email or post on Facebook and Twitter. As friends use your invite to register for Ark Hunter Rewards, they will be linked to your account and you will unlock the title and Lock Box shown below. When they buy and log into the game for the first time or make their first store purchase, you get more loot! Below are the rewards you could claim.

EXCLUSIVE E-REP HEAVY TROOPER OUTFIT – 1st invited friend logs in to the game for the first time
0/1FRIENDS PURCHASED

EXCLUSIVE HELLBLAZER NOMAD TRUCK – 5 invited friends log in to the game for the first time
0/5FRIENDS PURCHASED

TIER 3 LOCK BOX – each time an additional invited friend logs in to the game for the first time
0/6FRIENDS PURCHASED

You’ll be notified each time a new reward has been unlocked, and you can claim them in the Defiance Store under CLAIM ITEMS.

FAQ

Who can I recruit to join me in Defiance?

You can invite any of your friends who are not already playing Defiance. If you have a friend who has already signed up and is playing the game, that friend will not be counted towards earning rewards.

Do I have to complete these rewards in order?

No. If, for example, if you invite five friends to sign up for the Ark Hunter Rewards Program and one of them signs up, buys that same day, and starts playing, you will unlock the exclusive outfit before the in-game title.

How does the final reward work?

The final reward is granted to you each time an additional invited friend logs into the game for the first time over and above the first five friends you recruit. So friend 6, 7, 8, 9, etc. all earn you another Tier 3 Lock Box.

Do I ONLY have to sign up five friends to unlock all these rewards?

No. You should invite as many friends as you can. Not all of them will sign up immediately, so the more you invite the more likely you are to quickly accumulate rewards. Big tip: if you invite a friend, make sure you follow up with them and get them to take the first step and sign up for Ark Hunter Rewards. It then helps if you encourage them to buy and jump into the game. Let them know that you’ll get all this cool stuff if they do!

Why should my friends sign up anyway?

They also get rewards! Every one of your invited friends who signs up for the Ark Hunter Rewards Program gets several in-game rewards. Plus they level up automatically when they create their Ark Hunter Rewards account. It’s a win/win relationship.

What is the Ark Hunter Rewards Program?

The Ark Hunter Rewards Program is a loyalty program whereby Ark Hunters gather and input six digit codes that are scattered and hidden across hundreds of Defiance items including trailers, screenshots, and web pages. As these codes are entered they accumulate to unlock 15 different levels of in-game items and rewards for FREE! You can check out the Ark Hunter Rewards page here.

If you look at the market share of F2P and subscription MMO(RP)Gs for May, you can see a giant spike – particularly by RIFT. Last month, RIFT was by farthe most played game on Raptr, jumping over 6% from April. In fact, 6 of the top 20 games on Raptr are MMO(RP)Gs, up from only two in March and three in April. In total, they accounted for a massive jump to 15.4% of all games played (up from under 5% in March). Why buy a new game when the one you’re playing is fun AND free (or at least only $15/month)? Sure beats shelling out another $40-$70 for only 10-20 hours of solo story!

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Injustice Tops US Sales Charts for Second Month

Game sales down 25% overall including hardware, software and accessories.

The NPD Group has revealed the top ten best-selling games in the United States for the month of May.

Total game sales for the month (including hardware, software and accessories) were $386.3 million, down 25% compared to last year. Software sales brought in $187.6 million, down 44% from the same month in 2012.

The best-selling titles in the United States for the period between May 5th and June 1st were the following:

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

NPD analyst Liam Callahan reports that “Nintendo’s 3DS edged out the 360 as the top selling platform across hardware and portables. However, the 360 was the top selling console hardware platform this month for the twenty-ninth consecutive month. The 3DS had the best year-over-year trending for hardware units, with units sales essentially flat from last May.”

On the software side, Callahan notes that “overall entertainment software declines, down forty-four percent, were driven partly by sharp year-over-year declines within PC games due to poor comparisons to last year’s Diablo 3 release. Nintendo 3DS software unit sales were up sixty percent versus May ’12, and when looking at the game ranking based on SKUs” — in other words, individual games sold as opposed to combining sales across all platforms — “there were three 3DS SKUs in the top 10.”

Callahan added that “in May 2013, the top 10 games represented a lower percentage of sales compared to games from the previous few Mays at 18% of overall unit sales and 25% of overall dollars, compared to 30% of units and 45% of dollars in May 2012. This is contrary to trends we’ve been seeing over the last few years with the top ten games generating a larger percentage of overall sales and may be indicative of the weak new launch performance this May.”

On the accessories front, Callahan called 2013 the “best May for point and subscription card sales on record for both unit and dollar sales.” Skylanders accessory sales continue to grow, up nearly 50% in sales compared to last year. Callahan added that “as we often see accessory sales tied to hardware sales, May 2013 3DS Accessories (not including point cards) had the lowest decline across platforms, down only 2 percent.”

According to Microsoft, 114,000 Xbox 360s were sold in the U.S. in May, marking “the 29th consecutive month that Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the United States.” (Note that Microsoft specifically says console, not including handhelds and accounting for 3DS being the best-selling hardware platform overall.) Consumers spent $149.8 million on Xbox 360 hardware, software and accessories in the U.S. in May.

Nintendo, meanwhile, reports that Nintendo 3DS was “the best-selling video game hardware platform in the United States in May” thanks to the success of Donkey Kong Country Returns and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. 3DS software sales were up 60% compared to the same period last year.